You’ve Got This, Mama- Book Launch and Review
The Author
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a book launch and mama-pampering night at Drybar in Downtown DC. Andrea Faulkner Williams, is the co-founder of Tubby Todd Bath Co. based in San Diego and now the author of her second book, You’ve Got this Mama– Ideas for Taking Care of Yourself While You’re Taking Care of Your Little One. She is a mama to three, and started her baby bath product business with her husband. She reached out to me with an invite me to the event, and there was no way I was going to miss it. I cleared my schedule for that night, left the babies in the care of my parents and my husband, and headed downtown.
The Book
First let’s talk about this book, You’ve Got This, Mama. This is not the regular baby “how-to” book, this is a MAMA how-to. The literary world is saturated with parenting tutorials, newborn handbooks and blueprints on how to change a diaper, swaddle, breast-feed etc. You can essentially google anything baby and find the answers. FINALLY there is a book that solely focuses on caring for the person who has done all the work in the past 9+ months and now has an even steeper cliff to climb by caring for this new tiny human that she made. It is under my scope of practice as an occupational therapist to help women transition into their role as a mother while also focusing on their own health and well-being. If you’ve been following my blog, you probably remembering reading my own blog post about Self-Care Tips for New Moms. Obviously, I’m very passionate about this topic and super excited that it is what this book is all about!
Andrea hit the nail on the head with the topics she writes about. She covers everything from the first difficult few months, to getting your sexy back, to getting back to work (or not). I love how she spells out the EXACT feelings and thoughts that most new moms go through, but probably don’t dare say out loud. One of my favorite chapters is entitled, “The Postpartum Rollercoaster”, because it is exactly that. She’s helping to break down the stigma about postpartum depression in her book, and wasn’t afraid to present the staggering stats on PPD. Women really do need to know that they are not alone in that fight and what they can do to take care of their mental health during this delicate time.
The book is very interactive. Every few pages has a fun quiz, thought-provoking journal entry, or other game-like activity. I don’t want to spoil anything, but here’s a teaser with the table of contents and an example of one of the activities.
Bottom line, this book focuses on YOU as a woman, aside from being a mom. We’re still not talking about the baby, cuz they baby will be aight. She’s talking about YOU. Sometimes that’s all a mama needs is to remember who she is, and how she deserves self-love. Buy it here.
The Event
Wow talk about an incredible book launch event. This woman went all out. First of all, Andrea’s hosting all of her events at DryBar, which is one of the most popular hair-styling businesses in the US. Each mama got their hair styled by a pro, there were cupcakes and other sugary yum-yums scattered about the salon, goodiebags with some awesome products, and book signing by the woman behind the magic. I must note that Andrea didn’t just autograph and move on to the next. She spent at least 5 minutes talking to each guest, getting to know their names, the names and ages of their kids, ask HOW YOU ARE DOING…talk about down to earth entrepreneur!
BTW, this is not a sponsored post at all. It’s purely my own thoughts about the book and the event, and I felt so compelled to share it with all of y’all because mamas need know that they are not alone in this journey. You’ve Got This, Mama is a book that aligns perfectly with the vision of Therapeutic Miles: embracing all of life’s moments and owning your story.
